Bryce Sage shows a flair for dramatic gestures early on in his one-hour Nature of Things documentary, Survival of the Fabulous.

The filmmaker sets out to unravel the biological and genetic basis for him being gay, exploring the scientific reasons for why homosexuality has survived despite it being a trait that seems to prevent reproduction.

After scrambling up a hoodoo in Alberta’s Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park, the 31-year-old Sage looks down at the camera and yells: “Darwin, You’ve got some explaining to do!”

“Here comes a big giant stereotype, but I’m fine with it,” says Sage, on the phone from his home in Toronto. “Most of us gays are well-versed at being the centre of attention and we’re kind of drama queens. In a good way. We have a genetic predisposition for performing on camera.”

Survival of the Fabulous, which airs Thursday and Saturday on CBC’s The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, does not get quite that specific in its exploration of the science behind homosexuality. But it does look at genetics, biology and social reasons that homosexuals continue to exist — “flying in the face of evolution” as one scientist puts it — and what made them gay in the first place. Sage travels from Chicago, to Italy, to Samoa and Montana, among other spots, to interview scientists who are doing groundbreaking work in genetics and psychology.

It’s certainly backed up by enough science to end the “homosexuality is a choice” argument for good, while also revealing some fascinating, little-known facts on the topic.

For instance, Sage is told about the Fraternal Birth Order Effect, a phenomena that suggests every time a mother has a son it increases the chance that later-born males will turn out gay. He also discovers that the same genes that make men gay also make women more likely to have children.

In fact, female relatives of homosexual men produced 15 to 25 per cent more children than relatives of heterosexual men, all of which provide compelling hints as to why homosexuality has withstood the “survival of the fittest” rules of evolution. T

here are plenty of other scientific stops along the way. Sage travels to Montana, where gay sheep are being studied. He visits University of Lethbridge psychology professor Paul Vasey in Samoa, where he is studying the fa’afafine. They are a “third gender” made up of biological males who live as women. Vasey theorizes that transgendered males play an increased role in nurturing their families, leading to greater survival rates of offspring and a greater chance that fa’afafine DNA survives.

It’s all pretty trippy and complicated stuff, and Sage, who came out to his family at 19, is front and centre. Not only does he host and narrate the documentary, along with Suzuki, but he also participates in experiments and brings his family into the mix to see how these “nature versus nurture” theories fit into his own story.

It makes for an entertaining, funny and lively documentary, mixing facts about science with personal anecdotes, and even animation.

“The best way I can say it is that Mary Poppins song: ‘A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down,’” Sage says. “When it’s a talking-head documentary, the only people who will watch it are the choir: you’re preaching to the choir. And I think when you make a documentary that is fun and engaging, you can potentially have an audience that would normally not watch it and have the ability to reach people you may not be able to reach.”

This is the filmmaker’s first documentary. He began it five years ago and initially had trouble selling the idea to producers. It’s hard to imagine that the idea behind the film would be controversial just five years ago, but Sage suggests part of the resistance may have been the subject matter.

It was a bleary-eyed meeting at the Banff World Media Festival where he finally sold the idea to Edmonton-based Souleado Entertainment.

“By the time I was pitching it to the Nature of Things I was assuming it was dead,” he says. “Unless I came across a small fortune of money to complete it on my own, the film was not going to happen. So it was kind of a blessing. I remember it was a breakfast (meeting) and it was my first time at Banff, so I had very little expectations. And I remember really being hungover. Sometimes I think a hangover gives you bizarre clarity.”

Sage, who is now studying at the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, says Survival of the Fabulous carries an important message, despite its humour and levity.

While the anti-gay lobby is not as powerful as it once was, he says he hopes the film proves the point that homosexuality is not simply a lifestyle choice.

“I think ultimately, just being able to create the conversation about sexuality being seen like race or gender, that it’s something that is set, and therefore unlikely to change, will help to decrease any lingering discrimination that might be lobbied towards our group,” he said.evolmers@calgaryherald.com

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Survival of the Fabulous: Filmmaker has science on his side in documentary on homosexuality

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